User talk:Gene Poole/space music cleanup

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For other uses see Space-themed music, Space rock, Space jazz, or Space (disambiguation)
Space music typically evokes a sense of spatial imagery and emotion or sensations of floating, cruising, flying...
Space music typically evokes a sense of spatial imagery and emotion or sensations of floating, cruising, flying...

Space music, also spelled spacemusic, is a term that has been applied to music from a range of genres since its first recorded use in the 1950s.

In contemporary use "space music" is most often used to describe certain types of ambient, new age and electronic music, and is also sometimes also applied to selected works in the western classical, world, celtic, and experimental idioms.

[1][2][3][4]

[5][6][7][8] It generally refers to music that evokes a feeling of contemplative spaciousness. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Space music ranges from simple to complex sonic textures, often (though not exclusively) lacking conventional melodic, rhythmic, or vocal components,[3][13] typically evoking a "continuum of spatial imagery and emotion",[14] beneficial introspection, attentiveness for deep listening,[15][16] subtle trance effects called "spacey", and psychoacoustic spatial perceptions,[17] particularly, sensations of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering.[18][19]

Space music is often claimed to facilitate heightened states of relaxation, contemplation, inspiration, and moods of a peaceful expansive nature, ; it may promote health through relaxation, atmospherics for bodywork therapies, and effectiveness of meditation. [20] Space music appears in many film soundtracks and is commonly played in planetariums. [21]

Produced almost exclusively by independent labels, space music occupies a small niche in the commercial music marketplace, supported and enjoyed by a relatively small audience of loyal enthusiastic listeners.[22]

Contents

[edit] Aplication of the term

The term "space music" has been applied to many different genres and styles of music at various times by musicians, radio programmers, music reviewers and music retailers, and there is little uniformity in the manner of its use.

[edit] Radio programmers

Most major US-based ambient radio programmers use the term "space music" interchangeably with either New Age music or ambient music - or some combination of the two. Some programmers refer to it as a music genre, without qualifying statements. Others use it as a generic description of the more ethereal, drone-like or beatless types of ambient music.

[edit] Music retailers

US-based retailers, for the most part, do not use the term at all.

[edit] tba=

While there is a general agreement among contemporary Space music radio programmers, music critics, authors, and record producers about the sound and uses of the music, there is little agreement about how to define the term and how space music fits within the continuum of music genres.[11][23]

The majority of contemporary commentators note a close relationship between space music and new age music, ambient music, or (less commonly), electronic rock, to the extent that the term is often used interchangeably with these genres.

Six referenced commentators do not use the term interchangeably with ambient music, one is ambiguous, and one does so. Eight referenced commentators use the term space music as a subgenre of new age music (separate from ambient music) and do not use it interchangeably, one is ambiguous, three use space music interchangeably with new age music, and four consider space music and new age music completely unrelated. Two referenced commentators refer to space music as a sub-genre of electronic rock. [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]

Stephen Hill, co-founder of "Music from the Hearts of Space" (syndicated nationally in the USA on National Public Radio and XM Satellite Radio), uses the phrase "contemplative music, broadly defined" as an overview to describe the music played on his station, along with the term "spacemusic".[5] He states that the "genre spans historical, ethnic, and contemporary styles"[11], and that it combines elements from many cultures and genres, blended with varieties of acoustic and electronic ambient music, "woven into a seamless sequence unified by sound, emotion, and spatial imagery."[5] He has used a variety of definitions for the term over the years, connecting the term with Electronic music[13], Ambient music[9] and at times has defined it as a sub-genre of New Age music.[19]

Hill's partner and co-founder of "Music from the Hearts of Space" Anna Turner (1944-1996) wrote in her 1989 essay entitled Space Music, that "New Age Space music carries visions in its notes; it is transcendent inner and outer space music that opens, allows and creates space... this music speaks to our present moment, to the great allegory of moving out beyond our boundaries into space, and reflexively, to the unprecedented adventures of the psyche that await within."[33]

In her book The New Age Music Guide, author, editor and music critic P.J.Birosik classifies Space music as a subgenre of New Age music,[34] as does Dallas Smith, writer, teacher and recording artist in his essay New Age Jazz/Fusion. [35] Steven Halpern, noted recording artist and workshop leader writes that Space music has been considered a synonym for New Age music: " 'Space' is a vital dimension of New Age music; so much so that one of the early appellations for the genre was simply 'space music', referring both to its texture and to the state that it tended to evoke in the listener."[36]

Music critic Lloyde Barde, founder of Backroads music, has also used a variety of definitions for Space music over time. He has referred to it as a type of Ambient music,[37] along with the closely related genre New Age music,[38] and has also stated the opposite; that Space music is a separate genre, with a distinct identity not part of Ambient or Electronic music,[39] "while drawing from any number of traditional, ethnic, or modern styles."[10]

Bay Area musician, composer and sound designer Robert Rich considers space music to be a combination of Electronic music influences from the 1970s with world music and "modern compositional methods".[40] Forest, host of Musical Starstreams refers to Space music as a separate genre along with Ambient music, and others including dub, downtempo, trip hop, and acid jazz in the list of genres he calls "exotic electronica".[41] Similarly, WXPN Radio's Star's End, programming ambient music since 1976, on its website lists Space music as a separate genre, along with Ambient, New Age, and others.[42]

Steve Sande, freelance writer for the San Francisco Chronicle considers space music to be "Anything but New Age," and writes that "spacemusic [is] also known as ambient, chill-out, mellow dub, down-tempo."[43] In the same article, he describes Stephen Hill's "Hearts of Space" spacemusic program as streaming ambient, electronic, world, New Age and classical music.[6]

All Music Guide, one of the world's largest commercial databases of music-related information, defines Space music as a subgenre of New Age music.[24] Similarly, mainstream retailer Barnes & Noble, independent online music retailer CDBaby, and RealNetwork's music download service Rhapsody all classify Space music as a subgenre of New Age music.[44][45] [27] Rhapsody's editorial staff writes in their music genre description for Space music (listed as a subgenre of New Age music) that "New Age composers have looked upward for inspiration, creating an abstract notion of the sounds of interstellar music."[46]

Musicologist Joseph Lanza relates space music to prior generations of relaxing or environmental music, with a twist, writing, "Space music is easy-listening with amnesia, sounding like the future but retaining unconscious ties to elevator music of the past."[47]

[edit] Variety

As described by Stephen Hill, the predominant defining element of spacemusic is its contemplative nature.[5][11] Within that overview, space music includes a wide variety of styles, instrumentation and influences - both acoustic or electronic.[3][2] For example, the playlist archives of the "Hearts of Space" program lists the following genres as included in their programming:[1]

  1. Electronic space music: Electronic Space, Ambient/Downtempo, Ethno/Ambient
  2. Acoustic or partially acoustic space music - Regional or national: African/Sub-Saharan, Celtic, Japanese, Scandinavian/Arctic, Central Asian, Latin American, Southeast Asian/Indonesian, Chinese, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern/North African, Spanish/Moorish, Tibetan, Native American, World Fusion, East Indian
  3. Acoustic or partially acoustic space music - Western:Contemporary Instrumental, New Vocal, Holiday, Miscellaneous/Eclectic, Space Jazz, Sacred/Choral, Guitar, Piano, Orchestral/Chamber

While many space music recording artists specialize in electronic forms, evolving out of the traditional Kosmische musik of the Berlin School (also known as Krautrock), [31] examples of recording artists who create the contemplative experience of space music using acoustic instruments and influences of cutlures from around the world are plentiful: Andreas Vollenweider (harp), George Winston (piano), Carlos Nakai and Coyote Oldman (Native American flutes),[8] David Darling (cello), Paul Horn (woodwinds), Paul Winter (saxophone), and more. Examples of Space music artists using combinations of acoustic and electronic instruments are Deuter (flute and other esoteric instruments), Kitaro (Japanese drums and synthesizers), Laraaji (acoustic zither with electronic processing), Constance Demby (hammered dulcimer, cello, vocals, custom acoustic instruments and synthesizers), Oregon (world music influenced jazz), Mychael Danna (ethnic instruments and orchestra with electronic minimalism), and others.

Author and classical music critic David Hurwitz describes Joseph Haydn's choral and chamber orchestra piece, The Creation, composed in 1798, as space music, both in the sense of the sound of the music, ("a genuine piece of 'space music' featuring softly pulsating high violins and winds above low cellos and basses, with nothing at all in the middle ... The space music gradually drifts towards a return to the movement's opening gesture ... "); and in the manner of its composition, relating that Haydn conceived The Creation after discussing music and astronomy with William Herschel, oboist and astronomer (discoverer of the planet Uranus).[7]

[edit] History

Karlheinz Stockhausen used the term "space music" in describing his early development as a composer, "The first revolution occurred from 1952/53 as musique concrète, electronic tape music, and space music, entailing composition with transformers, generators, modulators, magnetophones, etc, the integration of all concrete and abstract (synthetic) possibilities within sound (also all noises) and the controlled projection of sound in space."[48] In 1967, he stated, "Several have commented that my electronic music sounds 'like on a different star,' or 'like in outer space.' Many have said that when hearing this music, they have sensations as if flying at an infinitely high speed, and then again, as if immobile in an immense space." [49][4]

Noted music historian Joseph Lanza described the emerging light music style during the early 1950s as a precursor to modern space music. He wrote that orchestra conductor Mantovani used new studio technologies to "create sound tapestries with innumerable strings" and in particular, "the sustained hum of Mantovani's reverberated violins produced a sonic vaporizor foreshadowing the synthesizer harmonics of space music." [50]

Jazz artist Sun Ra used the term to describe his music in 1956, when he stated that the music allowed him to translate his experience of the void of space into a language people could enjoy and understand. [51] In 1960, the German composer Robert Beyer published a paper about "space" or "room music" He had been inspired by Homer Dudley's 1948 invention of the Vocoder and began in 1951 to work with a device known as a Melochord, in conjunction with magnetic tape recorders, leading to a decade of working at the Cologne school specializing in "Elektronischen Musik" using magnetic tape recorders, sine wave generators and serial composition techniques.[52]

In 1969, Miles Davis was introduced to the music of Stockhausen by young arranger and cellist, and later Grammy award winner, Paul Buckmaster, leading to a period of new creative exploration for Davis. Biographer J.K.Chambers wrote that "The effect of Davis's study of Stockhausen could not be repressed for long. ... Davis's own 'space music,' shows Stockhausen's influence compositionally."[53] His recordings and performances during this period were described as "space music" by fans, by music critic Leonard Feather, and by Buckmaster who stated: "a lot of mood changes - heavy, dark, intense - definitely space music." [54]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Grateful Dead developed a new form of improvisational space music in their extended formless jam sessions during live concerts (which their fans referred to as "Space" though the band did not formally assign that title), and their experimental space music albums such as Aoxomoxoa, and later in the 1980s, Infrared Roses, and Grayfolded. [55] [56][4] Band member Phil Lesh released experimental space music recording Seastones with computer music pioneer Ned Lagin in 1975, one of the first albums to be issued in the innovative but commercially unsuccessful format SQ-Quadwith. Lagin used in real-time stage and studio performance of minicomputers driving real time digital to analog converters, prior to the time digital synthesizers became commercially available in the early 1980s.

Beginning in the early 1970's, the term "space music" was applied to some of the output of such artists as Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream,[31] due to the transcendent cosmic feelings of space evoked by the sound of the music and enhanced by the use of the emerging new instrument, the synthesizer,[57][58][59][60][4] and also in part to the "outer space" themes that are apparent in some of their works. Their later albums became increasingly rock-influenced and are not generally considered as space music.[61]

In 1971-72, Sun Ra brought his "space music" philosophy to UC Berkeley where he taught as artist-in-residence for the school year, creating notoriety among the students by devoting the second half-hour of each class to solo or band performances. In 1972, San Francisco public TV station KQED producer John Coney, producer Jim Newman, and screen writer Joshua Smith worked with Sun Ra to produce a 30 minute documentary film, expanded into a feature film released in 1974, entitled "Space is the Place", featuring Sun Ra's Arkestra and filmed in Golden Gate Park. [62] These early uses of the term were largely limited to the artists who applied it to their own music, and a few of the commentators who wrote about them.

In 1973 KPFA Berkeley, California radio producers Anna Turner and Stephen Hill used the phrase in the title of their local public radio show Music from the Hearts of Space. They developed an innovative segue music assembly technique, cross-mixing "spacey" instrumental pieces to create a sustained mood. The term began to be used more widely when the show was syndicated nationally in 1983.[63] Other US-based radio programmers adopted the term as well, among them, John Diliberto, Steve Pross, and Gino Wong with Star's End, launched in 1976, F. J. Forest (a.k.a. “Forest”) with Musical Starstreams, launched in 1981 and nationally syndicated in 1983, and John Diliberto again with Echoes, launched in 1989.

[edit] Niche market

While Space music aficionados are enthusiastic about the music, it occupies a small, specialized niche in both the retail marketplace and radio programming.[22]

Of the many major online retailers of music CDs or downloads, mention of space music as a genre is rare. The music is available, but is found listed under other genres, mostly New Age, or Ambient music, or both. Even the wider genre of Electronic music is limited in market presence as a separate genre, with most online retailers generally including it as part of the Dance/DJ genre. The Grammy awards have a stand-alone category for New Age music, but include Electronic/Dance music as a sub-category of Dance music and do not offer a category for Space music [64] . Often Ambient music is classified under both New Age and Dance/DJ simulataneously. Some of the major online retailers that do not mention space music as either a genre or sub-genre in their catalogs include Amazon.com, Sam Goody, Tower Records, eMusic, Microsoft/Zune, FYE/Transworld Entertainment, and iTunes. [65] [66] [28] [67] [68] [69]

In brick and mortar chain stores in the United States, a similar situation prevails - Electronic music is usually found in the Dance/DJ section, and the New Age music section is usually where the Ambient and Space music releases are displayed, as can be found for example at Barnes and Noble, Borders Books and Music, Sam Goody, and FYE/Transworld Entertainment.

Space music is generally not mentioned in mainstream music publications. In particular, Billboard magazine does not list space music in any of its genre charts; the Billboard Electronic music chart is cataegorized as part of the Dance music chart segment and includes only Dance-related forms of Electronic music. [25] . However Billboard does include on its New Age music chart recording artists considered by some to be space music artists and who appear in playlists on Music of the Hearts of Space; for example Andreas Vollenweider and Kitaro are listed on Billboard's Top New Age albums for 2006.[26]

In major music industry market reports in the USA, Space music does not appear at all as a genre. The 1999 National Association of Recording Merchandisers annual survey lists the market share of Space music-related genre New Age music at only 0.5%. Electronic music is not listed separately, but is included as part of the "other" category, along with 13 additional genres, totalling a 6.7% market share. [70] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported similar results for the years 1994-2003, with no mention of Space music; in 2003 reporting New Age music at 0.5%, and the "other" category (including Electronic music along with multiple other genres), bringing in 7.6% market share. [71] In the Arbitron commercial radio listenership by formats reports for 2004, the genres of Space music, New Age music, and Ambient music are not mentioned, all of them falling into the catch-all "remaining formats" category, with a listenership share of 0.1%. [72]

[edit] In film and television soundtracks

Space music has been an effective genre for creating moods and soundscapes in many well-known films including the Vangelis score to Blade Runner, [73] [74] Tangerine Dream's moody soundtracks for Legend (Tangerine Dream soundtrack) and Risky Business, [75] [76] Jonn Serrie's surround-sound score for the IMAX short film, Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time, [77] and Michael Stearns' soundtrack for the 1985 IMAX film, Chronos, broadcast on Stephen Hill's Hearts of Space radio, on the film's opening night. [78]

Television science-fiction series Babylon 5 features a score by former Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke, also released on CD in 1996 on Franke's independent label Sonic Images. [79]

In 1994, the German TV station Bayerischer Rundfunk launched the television program Space Night, [80], featuring a constant flow of satellite and space images accompanied by space music programmed by European chill-out-DJ Alex Azary.

[edit] Notable artists

 This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can (July 2007).

This list includes artists who specialize in space music, as well as artists who have made some space music albums, but also other kinds of music. In some cases, they went through a phase of creating space music, with other kinds of music before or after. Others intersperse space music releases with their other projects over time.

Alphabetized by last name including single name

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Prendergast, Mark. Eno, Brian (Foreword) (2001). The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Trance: The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 1582341346.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Hearts of Space Playlist - Complete list of genres
  2. ^ a b Herberlein, L.A. (2002). The Rough Guide to Internet Radio. Rough Guides, 95. ISBN 1858289610. 
  3. ^ a b c "A timeless experience...as ancient as the echoes of a simple bamboo flute or as contemporary as the latest ambient electronica. Any music with a generally slow pace and space-creating sound image can be called spacemusic. Generally quiet, consonant, ethereal, often without conventional rhythmic and dynamic contrasts, spacemusic is found within many historical, ethnic, and contemporary genres."Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, sidebar "What is Spacemusic?" in essay Contemplative Music, Broadly Defined
  4. ^ a b c d e f Significant Works of the Berlin-School. Star's End Radio (2001). “Among the core albums of this genre were Rubycon and Phaedra by Tangerine Dream, Picture Music and Mirage by Klaus Schulze and Inventions for Electric Guitar and New Age of Earth by Ash Ra Tempel. Released in the 1970s, all were considered to be ahead of their time. ...Yet, it was the more aesthetic based elements of the day that molded Spacemusic into a musical form. Music from Karlheinz Stockhausen and his groundbreaking electronic work Hymnen as tempered by the psychedelic improvisations of rock groups like the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd as well as epic sized classical compositions by the venerable Richard Wagner informed this movement with a sense of scale. The result of these cultural and technological influences is a timeless and unique music characterized by a mysterious mood and evocative atmosphere.”
  5. ^ a b c d "The program has defined its own niche — a mix of ambient, electronic, world, new age, classical and experimental music....Slow-paced, space-creating music from many cultures — ancient bell meditations, classical adagios, creative space jazz, and the latest electronic and acoustic ambient music are woven into a seamless sequence unified by sound, emotion, and spatial imagery." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, essay titled Contemplative Music, Broadly Defined
  6. ^ a b "Hill's Hearts of Space Web site provides streaming access to an archive of hundreds of hours of spacemusic artfully blended into one-hour programs combining ambient, electronic, world, New Age and classical music." Steve Sande, The Sky's the Limit with Ambient Music, SF Chronicle, Sunday, January 11, 2004
  7. ^ a b Hurwitz, David (2005). Exploring Haydn: A Listener's Guide to Music's Boldest Innovator, Amadeus Press Unlocking the Masters Series. Hal Leonard, 78-81. ISBN 1574671162. 
  8. ^ a b c Nidel, Richard (2005). World Music: The Basics. Routledge, 310. ISBN 0415968011. 
  9. ^ a b "In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, What is spacemusic?
  10. ^ a b "Any music with a generally slow, relaxing pace and space-creating imagery or atmospherics may be considered Space Music, without conventional rhythmic elements, while drawing from any number of traditional, ethnic, or modern styles." Lloyde Barde, July/August 2004, Making Sense of the Last 20 Years in New Music
  11. ^ a b c d "When you listen to space and ambient music you are connecting with a tradition of contemplative sound experience whose roots are ancient and diverse. The genre spans historical, ethnic, and contemporary styles. In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, What is spacemusic?
  12. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press, 184. ISBN 0472089420. “space music evokes vague images of regal landscapes perhaps encountered in past lives or the tones of a harmonic convergence between earth and other celestial bodies...” 
  13. ^ a b "The early innovators in electronic "space music" were mostly located around Berlin. The term has come to refer to music in the style of the early and mid 1970s works of Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh and others in that scene. The music is characterized by long compositions, looping sequencer patterns, and improvised lead melody lines." - John Diliberto, Berlin School, Echoes Radio on-line music glossary
  14. ^ "This music is experienced primarily as a continuum of spatial imagery and emotion, rather than as thematic musical relationships, compositional ideas, or performance values." Essay by Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, New Age Music Made Simple
  15. ^ "Innerspace, Meditative, and Transcendental... This music promotes a psychological movement inward." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, essay titled New Age Music Made Simple
  16. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press, p 185. ISBN 0472089420. “The mystique of communing with some larger, transpersonal, extraterretrial Gaia is commonly included as part of space music's packaging. Explaining compositions such as 'The Galactic Chalice' and 'Celestial Communion,' Constance Demby refers to the 'transformative journey' with 'sounds to awaken and activate soul memory of our true origin.'” 
  17. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press, 184. ISBN 0472089420. “Space music is just as important for its ability to confound our spoon-fed sense of time and place. Its mercurial stirrings create openings between worlds: inner and outer space; ancestral rhythms and ultra-civilized electronics, the clock on the wall and the hallucinatory "psyhonaut" time that drifts in and out of waking life.” 
  18. ^ "...Spacemusic ... conjures up either outer "space" or "inner space" " - Lloyd Barde, founder of Backroads Music Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive
  19. ^ a b "Space And Travel Music: Celestial, Cosmic, & Terrestrial... This New Age sub-category has the effect of outward psychological expansion. Celestial or cosmic music removes listeners from their ordinary acoustical surroundings by creating stereo sound images of vast, virtually dimensionless spatial environments. In a word — spacey. Rhythmic or tonal movements animate the experience of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering within the auditory space."Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, in an essay titled New Age Music Made Simple
  20. ^ "Restorative powers are often claimed for it, and at its best it can create an effective environment to balance some of the stress, noise, and complexity of everyday life." -- Stephen Hill, Founder, Music from the Hearts of Space What is Spacemusic?
  21. ^ "This was the soundtrack for countless planetarium shows, on massage tables, and as soundtracks to many videos and movies."- Lloyd Barde Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive
  22. ^ a b "Like most people in the independent side of the music business, we inhabited what are called the niche genres.... All niche music regardless of style or content has one thing in common: it's all something that relatively small numbers of people really, truly, love." Stephen Hill, Powered By Love: Niche Music in the New Millennium, feature article in Ambient Visions Magazine, 2002
  23. ^ "I acknowledge both the distaste for categories among many listeners as well as the inherent problems of categorizing music. Categories that are broad enough to include an entire era or dimension of musical style or meaning are often of little descriptive value; on the other hand, those which are too specific give no insight into the overall musical direction of which the particular piece is an example. The situation is further confused by the fact that categories may be organized by historical epochs (Baroque), by musical form (symphonic), by the means of production (electronic), etc." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, essay titled New Age Music Made Simple
  24. ^ a b All Music Guide New Age music page - includes Space music as subgenre of New Age music.; All Music Guide Space music page - subgenre of New Age music; All Music Guide Electronica music page - does not list Space music as a subgenre; All Music Guide Ambient music page - does not list Space music as a subgenre.
  25. ^ a b Billboard 2006 year-end complete chart index
  26. ^ a b Billboard 2006 top New Age albums
  27. ^ a b CD Baby - Space music is listed as a subgenre of New Age music. Both Electronic music and New Age music list Ambient as a subgenre. Electronic genre page, New Age genre page.
  28. ^ a b Tower Records - no listing for Space music: tower.com main genre page, tower.com New Age genre page, tower.com electronic genre page
  29. ^ "This sub-genre of electronic rock doesn't see that much action, but fans of space music usually can't get enough of it." Definitions of ambient music
  30. ^ Lancaster, Kurt (1999). Warlocks and Warpdrive: Contemporary Fantasy Entertainments With Interactive and Virtual Environments. McFarland & Company, 26. ISBN 0786406348. “the genre known artistically as space music and commercially labeled New Age. These kinds of musicians design aural landscapes. ...” 
  31. ^ a b c Dr. Ulrich D. Einbrodt (2001). Space, Mysticism, Romantic Music, Sequencing, and the Widening of Form in German Krautrock during the 70's (PDF). Justus Liebig University, Giessener Electronic Library.
  32. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press, 184. ISBN 0472089420. “an elusive category many prefer to call "new age" or "space music"” 
  33. ^ "New Age Space music carries visions in its notes; it is transcendent inner and outer space music that opens, allows and creates space... Space music moves; the balance between the rhythm track and melody line determines a great deal of the imagery, altitude, and impact of a particular piece... At its best and most essential, this music speaks to our present moment, to the great allegory of moving out beyond our boundaries into space, and reflexively, to the unprecedented adventures of the psyche that await within." Space Music, by Anna Turner, co-founder of Music from the Hearts of Space, page 134, The New Age Music Guide, P.J.Birosik, 1989 Macmillon Publishing Company, New York
  34. ^ "Currently no less than fourteen separate subgenres are being called New Age music. These include New Age East/West, Electronic/Computer, Environmental/Nature, Folk, Jazz/Fusion, Meditation, Native American/Indigenous, New Age Pop, New Age Progressive, Solo Instrumental, Sound Health, Space Music, Traditional. New Age, Vocal, and World Music." Preface, page vii, P.J.Birosik, The New Age Music Guide, 1989 Macmillon Publishing Company, New York
  35. ^ "New Age Jazz/Fusion is distinguished from other New Age subgenres, especially space music, by its rhythm and identifiable melodies." New Age Jazz/Fusion by Dallas Smith (writer, teacher, recording artist), page 46, The New Age Music Guide, P.J.Birosik, 1989 Macmillon Publishing Company, New York
  36. ^ " 'Space' is a vital dimension of New Age music; so much so that one of the early appellations for the genre was simply "space music," referring both to its texture and to the state that it tended to evoke in the listener. By "Space" we mean the elecrto-acoustic enhancement of instrumental tones, through reverb and echo; in New Age music such enhancement is not simply a "special effect", but rather an integral part of the music itself." Notes on New Age Music by Steven Halpern (recording artist, writer, workshop leader), Introduction, page xix, The New Age Music Guide, P.J.Birosik, 1989 Macmillon Publishing Company, New York
  37. ^ Ambient had come to mean music with a rhythmic or trance-like nature, using (generally) electronic keyboards and/or Space Music melodies or themes... (Nu) Ambient music grew into its own genre out of the "chill-out" rooms that became a part of the rave scene, a place to escape the pounding, throbbing techno beats (often in excess of 160-180 beats per minute!), where DJ's mixed together nature sounds, Space Music tracks, and tape loops or other sound samples." - Lloyde Barde, July/August 2004, Making Sense of the Last 20 Years in New Music
  38. ^ "Ambient music is a broader term, encompassing (at least) six sub-genres, part of which includes New Age or Spacemusic." - Lloyd Barde, founder of Backroads Music Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive
  39. ^ "new age, neo-classical, space, electronic, ambient, progressive, jazzy, tribal, world, folk, ensemble, acoustic, meditative, and back to new age... The order and placement is no accident; each comes in and out of the previous, leading into the next, with shades of overlap and crossover visible at every turn. Each 'type' has its own history, its own cornerstones and 'hall of fame' artists and titles. Each has crystallized and grown, achieving greater artistry over time, and becoming more recognizable in the marketplace." - Lloyd Barde, founder of Backroads Music Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive
  40. ^ "I got into space music in the '70s as a teenager and I wanted to play with those clichés again -- the cyclic, repetitive structures of '70s electronic music -- but steer away from the formula by using some of the compositional methods of Steve Reich and Terry Riley, for example. It's a combination of world music, modern compositional methods and '70s schlock." - Bay Area musician, composer and sound designer Robert Rich, quoted in Plugged in to the Joy of Ambient Music, by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, May 28, 2006.
  41. ^ "Ambient, spacemusic, dub, downtempo, trip hop, acid jazz...artists from all these categories." Waveform...Starstreams and beyond: Ambient Visions Talks with....Forest, listing styles of music played on Musical Starstreams, from interview in Ambient Visions Magazine, 2003
  42. ^ "The music is presented in a non-stop drifting blend and drawn from a diversity of genres including: electronic, ambient, spacemusic, chillout, avant-garde, low-intensity noise, new age, international, spoken word and classical." Star's End Radio website-background information page
  43. ^ "spacemusic, also known as ambient, chill-out, mellow dub, down-tempo ....Anything but New Age." Steve Sande, The sky's the Limit with Ambient Music, SF Chronicle, Sunday, January 11, 2004
  44. ^ Barnes & Noble website - Space music is not listed on the main music genres page. Space music is listed as a subgenre of New Age music on the New Age music genre page, as is Ambient music. Ambient also appears as a subgenre on the Dance & DJ genre page, along with Electronic music.
  45. ^ Space music is listed on the Rhapsody Music Service New Age music genre page as a subgenre of New Age. Space music is not listed on Rhapsody electronica/dance genre page or Rhapsody Ambient music subgenre page.
  46. ^ "Although there is no sound in the vacuum of space, many New Age composers have looked upward for inspiration, creating an abstract notion of the sounds of interstellar music. Space indicates not only a style of composition, but also a certain cosmic consciousness.... Artists like...Space music pioneer Michael Stearns try to evoke peace and unity with their spacescapes, creating compositions that are tranquil, hypnotic and moving." Rhapsody online music service - definition of Space Music on New Age music subgenre page
  47. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press, 185. ISBN 0472089420. 
  48. ^ Schwartz, Elliott; Barney Childs (1998). Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music. Da Capo Press, 380. ISBN 0306808196. 
  49. ^ "In 1967, just following the world premier of Hymnen, Stockhausen said this about the electronic music experience: '... Many listeners have projected that strange new music which they experienced—especially in the realm of electronic music—into extraterrestrial space. Even though they are not familiar with it through human experience, they identify it with the fantastic dream world. Several have commented that my electronic music sounds "like on a different star," or "like in outer space." Many have said that when hearing this music, they have sensations as if flying at an infinitely high speed, and then again, as if immobile in an immense space. Thus, extreme words are employed to describe such experience, which are not "objectively" communicable in the sense of an object description, but rather which exist in the subjective fantasy and which are projected into the extraterrestrial space.' " Page 145, Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition, Thomas B. Holmes, Routledge Music/Songbooks, 2002, ISBN 0415936438
  50. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press, 80. ISBN 0472089420. 
  51. ^ According to Author Norman Mailer in 1956, quoted on page 154: "a friend took me to hear a jazz musician named Sun Ra who played 'space music.' " and according to Sun Ra himself, also in 1956, quoted on page 384: "When I say space music, I'm dealing with the void, because that is of space too... So I leave the word space open, like space is supposed to be." and on page 247, in an interview, Sun Ra states: "sometimes when I'm playing for a band, playing space music... I'm using ordinary instruments, but actually I'm using them in a manner... transforming certain ideas over into a language which the world can understand." -- Space is the Place By John F. Szwed, 1998, Da Capo Press
  52. ^ A History of Electronic Music Pioneers by David Dunn, in the catalog of the exhibition: Eigenwelt der Apparatewelt: Pioneers of Electronic Art, presented as part of Ars Electronica 1992, in Linz, Austria
  53. ^ Chambers, J. K. (1998). Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis. Da Capo Press, 246.. ISBN 0306808498. 
  54. ^ Carr, Ian (1998). Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography. Thunder's Mouth Press, 284, 303, 304, 306. ISBN 1560252413. 
  55. ^ "purveyors of freely improvised space music," -- Blender Magazine, May 2003
  56. ^ ""Dark Star," both in its title and in its structure (designed to incorporate improvisational exploration), is the perfect example of the kind of "space music" that the Dead are famous for. Oswald's titular pun "Grayfolded" adds the concept of folding to the idea of space, and rightly so when considering the way he uses sampling to fold the Dead's musical evolution in on itself." -- Islands of Order, Part 2,by Randolph Jordan, in Offscreen Journal, edited by Donato Totaro, Ph. D, film studies lecturer at Concordia University since 1990.
  57. ^ "a quartet of albums, Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet and Stratosfear, established the Dream's modus operandi with throbbing, cosmic rubber band rhythms thrumming like galactic space basses through floating mellotron pads, ghost flutes and electronic effects whirling by at hyperspeed. This was the soundtrack for countless planetarium shows... the first electronic music to shed the synthesizers reputation as cold and unfeeling... beyond emotion, into the sensual and the transcendent. It was as if the universe were wrapping you up in a warm velvet glove and showing you the wonders of existence." Time Warped in Space by Echoes Radio producer and host, John Diliberto.
  58. ^ a b c d e f g h Listed in "A Classic Space Music Countdown to Liftoff: 10 Essential classic space music albums, counting down from 10 to 1" Time Warped in Space by Echoes Radio producer and host, John Diliberto.
  59. ^ a b "At its most abstract - solo albums by Klaus Schulze and by Tangerine Dream's leader Edgar Froese - these were clouds of sounds to lose yourself in, a Rorschach mindscreen for projecting fantasies onto." Reynolds, Simon. "Kings of the cosmos", in The Guardian, April 22, 2007, retrieved May 13, 2007
  60. ^ (2004) The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945-1990: A Handbook. Cambridge University Press, 342. ISBN 0306808498. 
  61. ^ "The Dream's sound started getting a lot more rock 'n' roll in the 1980s, especially once the dreaded Private Music years set in. They'd record good music after that, but it never had the impact, cultural resonance or lasting import of their 1970s output." Time Warped in Space by Echoes Radio producer and host, John Diliberto.
  62. ^ official website for "Space is the Place", documentary film about Sun Ra's Arkestra, filmed in 1972
  63. ^ "Hill began the program as a volunteer at KPFA-FM, Berkeley, in 1973, and worked with Anna Turner as co-producer. Ten years later--Jan. 8, 1983--the program went national." Hearts of Space: a mellow carriage leader after a decade on the public radio satellite -- published Feb. 1, 1993 in Current, "the newspaper about public television and radio in the United States"
  64. ^ Grammy Awards complete category list
  65. ^ Amazon.com (also includes Borders and Virgin Megastores websites) - no listing for Space music. Ambient appears as subgenre of both Electronic and New Age, with the links redirecting to the same page, a low level page with no subgenres. Amazon dance & dj includes subgenres Ambient & Electronica, Amazon New Age includes subgenre Ambient, Amazon Ambient list does not include subgenres
  66. ^ Sam Goody - no listing for Space music: Dance & Electronic genre page at Sam Goody, New Age genre page at Sam Goody
  67. ^ eMusic - no listing for Space music: eMusic main genre listing, eMusic Electronic Ambient genre page, eMusic New Age Ambient genre page
  68. ^ Microsoft Network - no listing for Space music: MSN New Age genre page, MSN Electronica genre page
  69. ^ FYE/Transworld - no listing for Space music: main category list at FYE, New Age genre at FYE, Dance genre at FYE, Ambient genre at FYE
  70. ^ 1999 NARM annual survey, Published by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, reports market share as New Age 0.5%, and Other 6.7%. “Other” is defined as including: Ethnic, Standards, Big Band, Swing, Latin, Electronic, Instrumental, Comedy, Humor, Spoken Word, Exercise, Language, Folk, and Holiday Music.
  71. ^ Recording Industry Association of America, 2005, quoted by the Northwestern University Media Management Center: Music purchases by genre 1994-2003
  72. ^ Arbitron Format Trends Report, Fall 2004, quoted by the Northwestern University Media Management Center: Radio Formats Listened to by Age and Radio Listenership by Formats
  73. ^ "...includes music in his 'classic' style, ethnically influenced e-music, deep sequences, symphonic synths, and sci-fi space music." Blade Runner soundtrack album review (Mutli-CD extended version), Jim Brenholts, Windows Media Guide, from All Music Guide
  74. ^ "Vangelis...composes and performs mainly instrumental music and film scores. ...he has flirted with many genres and has proved to be very hard to categorize. His music has been filed as 'synthesizer music', 'new age', 'progressive rock', 'Symphonic rock', 'Space music', 'electronic music', etc" Vangelis Papathanassiou Biography, Newsfinder, A literary favour to world culture, Gus Leous, July 2003
  75. ^ "The terms New Age and Space Music have been aptly applied to the ethereal improvisational electronic work of Tangerine Dream.... Tangerine Dream lends itself to movie soundtracks; their music graces dozens of popular motion pictures." Tangerine Dream Biography Contemporary Musicians, Ed. Suzanne M. Bourgoin. Vol. 12. Thomson Gale, 1994. eNotes.com. 2006
  76. ^ " In 1983 the group made a substantial contribution to the soundtrack for the film Risky Business, .... the title piece, also known as Love On A Real Train involved repetitive elements that were close to the minimalism of Steve Reich... 'we stumbled upon a minimal kind of thing, like Steve Reich or Philip Glass. It was a new way of drawing a romantic theme, which we still get credit for today.' " Tangerine Dream - Their Changing Use Of Technology Part 2: 1977-1994, Sound on Sound Magazine, January 1995
  77. ^ "the award-winning IMAX short film, Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time, ... transforms images and data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope into a voyage that sweeps viewers across the cosmos. .... space music composer Jonn Serrie wrote the surround-sound score." Hubble IMAX Film Takes Viewers on Ride Through Space and Time Hubble Telescope News Release, June 24, 2004
  78. ^ "[Michael Stearns] scored the IMAX film Chronos for Ron Fricke... Chronos opened in May of 1985 and on opening night the soundtrack was beamed via satellite to over 200 radio stations nationwide on Stephen Hill's program Music From the Hearts of Space." from Stearns' bio on the Michael Sterns official website
  79. ^ "don't get confused and start thinking that classically crafted space music is a thing of the past. We recently received several releases from Sonic Images, an independent Los Angeles label operated by synthesist Christopher Franke, who played with Tangerine Dream for 17 years during the apex of the German group's popularity. Franke, who now resides in L.A., is represented on the label by two recent albums: a compilation of soundtrack music for the sci-fi TV series Babylon 5 and Klemania," DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENTS, Billboard Magazine, January 27, 1996
  80. ^ Space night official website
  81. ^ Hearts of Space playlist
  82. ^ a b c d e f "Pioneered by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Walter Carlos, then popularised by Tomita, Jean Michel Jarre, and Vangelis, this genre - space music, some call it..." Reynolds, Simon. "Kings of the cosmos", in The Guardian, April 22, 2007, retrieved May 13, 2007
  83. ^ Hearts of Space playlist
  84. ^ Hearts of Space playlist
  85. ^ Hearts of Space playlist
  86. ^ "As in previous Spacejazz excursions, we favor the more melodic or space creating players over the instrumental technicians. We'll be hearing from the group OREGON with music from 45th PARALLEL;" -- Music from the Hearts of Space, Program 260 : "Spacejazz 6 Animato"
  87. ^ Planitarium Music
  88. ^ "Among the first, and arguably the best to bring that psychedelic ethos into the electronic age was Tangerine Dream. While their 1970 debut, Electronic Meditation, sounded like Karlheinz Stockhausen meeting the Grateful Dead, their later albums essayed the sound that would be the template of space music." Time Warped in Space by Echoes Radio producer and host, John Diliberto.

de:Space Musik